The Promise of Wilderness

"Filled with compelling characters and important parables, The Promise of Wilderness is required reading for environmental historians, but this magnificent book has value well beyond the field. Turner shows that wilderness was neither a transient nor a trivial issue."

"This rich history has many important lessons for those who work for wilderness protection today."

"Turner’s account is a sophisticated, fresh interpretation, especially for the insights it provides on environmental politics in the 1970s and 1980s. This work pushes beyond the received wisdom in important ways, rethinking the chronology of change, venturing into previously unexplored topical territory, and transforming environmental history into a social-environmental history hybrid."

"James Turner offers a compelling narrative of U.S. environmental politics that answers and reformulates such questions for scholars, policy insiders, and anyone who has ever marveled at the eloquence of a wilderness area sign. Turner’s landmark new book shows that [wilderness preservation] was perennially inclusive and cutting-edge."

"Turner's research is deep, his writing strong, and his argument persuasive. The Promise of Wilderness is sure to become the standard work. It is an outstanding achievement."

"His engaging analysis suggests a complex tale of political ideology, science, and pragmatism that shaped the expansion of wilderness areas throughout the US. Turner's book is a compelling and detailed read, worthy of attention by scholars and students alike. Highly recommended."

"A fascinating account of the environmental movement in the second half of the century, one that should find a prominent place not only in environmental history but also in political history and the history of the twentieth century . . . an interpretation of the late-twentieth-century wilderness movement that should remain definitive for a long time."

"The Promise of Wilderness will be read with pleasure by all who enjoy— and realize they must act politically to protect— the untrammeled great outdoors."

"James Morton Turner here gives us a highly detailed, exquisitely researched, and exciting account of the nearly 50 years of political, social, and cultural history of the environmental struggle since the act [Wilderness Act of 1964], using wilderness as the flashpoint of that massive endeavor—an endeavor even more important today than it was a half century ago."

"James Turner's insightful book demonstrates the continued vitality and centrality of wilderness within American environmentalism."

"A superb study of the implementation of the Wilderness Act, and a springboard for a new period in wilderness thought and advocacy."

"The most deeply researched, analytically rigorous, and elegantly written study of American wilderness politics since the 1960s yet produced."

"The Promise of Wilderness is an epic history of the heart, soul, and mind of the wilderness community over the last fifty years. Through personal stories of legendary conservation heroes, it provides a primer for all who work to protect special places. But even more, it is the story of the significant differences—the deep divide— over the seminal question: what is the role of the State in providing for the public good? This is the question before us today in our polarized political world—and the question we must answer in each conservation policy and political debate. Jay Turner reminds us frequently that in our democratic society 'all politics are local.' The Promise of Wilderness comes from the good will and passion of 'local' people who work for the public good to protect the few remaining wild places in this country."

"A new crop of conservation historians is pushing up new interpretations of wilderness conservation. Jay Turner is a star of these new historians and his book, The Promise of Wilderness, well deserves reading by anyone who loves wilderness and wants to keep it. I hope it sparks lively discussion around the campfire."